If
Alabamians think rural life consists of a simple existence in a pastoral
setting near a small town, they havenít been paying attention for the past
50 years. Rural Alabama has always been more complex than that scenario.
The same forces transforming the rest of society are at play in rural
areas as welló rapid technological change, global business strategies,
shifts in occupational demand, and access to working capital are examples.
The economic development strategies for rural areas have to be as
sophisticated and aggressive as those for metro areas in order to bring
enhanced prosperity to the more sparsely populated parts of the state.

Alabama has 46 of 67 counties in which more than 50 percent of the people
live in a rural area. But rural does not mean isolated. Some of Alabamaís
rural counties (St. Clair, Blount, Limestone, Elmore, Baldwin) are
actually part of a federally-defined metropolitan area. Most rural
counties contain a small town that is an economic anchor for the local
area. Many rural counties have good roads and highways that have reduced
the cultural and economic isolation of the past.

Rural also does not necessarily mean agricultural. Farming accounts for
3.3 percent of the total personal income in Alabamaís rural counties, from
a high of 14.1 percent in Crenshaw County to a low of 0.2 percent in
Fayette County. The importance of farming has been declining for decades
in rural Alabama; other forces are driving rural growth. Some rural
counties that are part of or near growing metropolitan areas have
benefited economically from the metro areaís growth. Workers in central
business districts donít always want to live in the city where they work.
Some seek the scenic attractions of rural areas within commuting distance
of their jobs. Commercial and real estate development, not agricultural
activity, accompany population growth in outlying areas.

Although some rural Alabama areas saw prosperity during the decade of the
1990s, many did not. Many did not have a sufficient pool of workforce
skills to attract high wage jobs. Although rural Alabamians have made
progress in improving their educational status during the decade, quality
jobs requiring college-educated workers remain more a dream than a reality
in much of rural Alabama. Not all industries require advanced educational
credentials. But some rural counties do not have infrastructure in place
to support new-economy-style industries. For example, rural counties need
hospitality services in order to support a vigorous tourism industry, or
sufficient technology and transportation infrastructure to attract high
wage manufacturing jobs. In some rural areas the population has been aging
out of the civilian labor force, while younger workers have moved away.

These problems are not unique to rural Alabama. They are echoed in the
rural portions of every state in the union. Leaders of rural areas
everywhere voice the same concerns:

The lack of
telecommunications infrastructure and the high cost of local service

Few residents with
skills in high technology

A lack of start-up
business capital

An unproductive
conflict between older, conservative political views and newer, more
progressive ones

Lack of cooperation
among governmental bodies

Lack of legislative
support for rural initiatives

Future projections for prosperity in rural areas offer little hope for
improvement unless these kinds of concerns are addressed effectively.

Mark Drabenstott, vice president and director of the Center for the Study
of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has said that
Americans must change the way they view rural communities and these
communities in turn must change the way they see themselves. Communities
and legislators must rethink rural state and local development policies.
He identified four important components of a successful rural policy:

Development of a
broadband communications infrastructure

Facilitation of
rural entrepreneurship

Conversion from
commodity-based to product-based agriculture, and

Marketing of green
space for tourism and residential development.

To follow any of these paths, however, economic leaders should be aware of
potential dangers and difficulties.

Creating recreational opportunities and permanent residential communities
for those seeking a scenic environment is certainly within the scope and
range of many rural Alabama locales. Still, there is some risk in the
strategy of recruiting retirees. Rural areas need to be able to provide
high quality, accessible health care for a permanent population that moves
quickly from active retiree to assisted living status. Rural areas that do
not have an excellent health care infrastructure with a working age
population trained for and interested in health maintenance occupations
should be wary of instituting a vigorous recruitment of senior citizens.

Tourism can also be a two-edged sword. Tourism employment can be very
seasonal, and the occupations required to support tourism include a large
number of low-wage, low-skill jobs with little or no upward mobility, for
example, cashier, housekeeper, counter clerk, short order cook, busboy,
janitor, or groundskeeper. Jobs that demand persons with no more than a
terminal high school education and some on-the-job training will not raise
the average per capita personal income for counties relying primarily on
these occupational groups. On the other hand, many communities in Alabama
have embraced tourism as a way to restart economic growth. If a regionís
assets include a pleasant climate, beautiful scenery, a civilian labor
force without advanced technological skills, and properties that are worth
visiting, then tourism as part of a development plan makes sense.

Rural areas in every state, including Alabama, have found various
strategies that work to revitalize a lackadaisical economy. One is a
cooperative arrangement with a local university. When local rural leaders
and university leaders team up, the partnership can be a catalyst for
economic growth. Universities can be instrumental in bringing applications
of new technologies; they can encourage civic involvement; and they can
help close the gap between available or potential jobs and worker skills.
Every university in Alabama has outreach programs and a great many
positive things are now occurring between higher education and rural
Alabama. But more is possible.

Every rural region of Alabama has strengths. We are rightly proud of our
natural resources, fertile soil, and navigable waterways. But we should
not minimize less obvious strengths such as collaborative initiatives
among governmental agencies, entrepreneur-supportive education programs,
residents with a penchant for innovative thinking, or well-coordinated
efforts to attract additional capital. A mindset that dwells on the
negatives can overlook the positives. Rural Alabama communities that
understand the economic and social forces at work in their areas can use
that understanding to develop appropriate development strategies. Just as
rural doesnít have to mean isolated or agricultural, rural also doesnít
have to mean poor.